


Before Barbed Wire

by sinivalkoista



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Captivity, Drabble, Dystopia, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Experimentation, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:28:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27826777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinivalkoista/pseuds/sinivalkoista
Summary: Every day, Hiccup stands before barbed wire and dreams of the life he once shared with his dragon.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Kudos: 23





	Before Barbed Wire

**Author's Note:**

> Please read this while listening to George Winston's song "Before Barbed Wire," as it was the inspiration for this.

Every day, Hiccup stands before a barbed wire fence, his already torn hands braced up against it. As if it will bring him closer to what he watches on the other side.

His best friend.

His dragon.

_ Toothless. _

He thinks he still remembers a time when the barbed wire fence wasn't between them and they were free in the sky. Together, they flew to the top of the world and stared down at the green and blue splotches that were home. His heart yearns to be with Toothless. Sometimes, he imagines it could jump out from his chest where his barely hangs on beating.

If he closes his eyes, he can imagine the dry, stale breeze flowing is the wind rushing through his hair and his ears as he and Toothless fly through the air. The more altitude they gained, the less he could hear, but he and Toothless always knew where the other wanted to go without saying anything. If he dared open his eyes, he caught glimpses of his friend sending a gummy dragon grin at him.

Now, he cannot see anything of his dragon but snatches of midnight black and green glowing eyes – and those eyes haunt him in his sleep, if he can catch it. Those twins orbs are the ghosts of happiness's memory that taunts him now.

Hiccup has tried to get over the fence to help, to do anything, but  _ they _ 've always caught him and returned him to his side. Eventually, he gave up, although his arms cannot be rid of the scars from the metal that separates two lonely souls from each other.

It seems so ridiculous that something such as a simple fence can stop Hiccup, the one who could overcome everything in his path.

If anything, his dragon's pitiful calls should have driven him to cross the spiky divide that keeps them from each other, the sky, and the freedom they both desire. But it does, and they don't.

Because as much as the barbed wire is keeping him form his dragon, it is keeping his dragon from him. They are both stuck in wire cages, with dirt and grass floors and weeds, cold and unforgiving.

Hiccup is a prisoner, too, and  _ they _ 've made sure he can't escape by taking his leg (he has to crawl anywhere he wants to go, one of the most humiliating punishments ever) and his spirit.  _ They _ hold the lives of both of Hiccup and Toothless over each other's heads.

Hiccup never wanted this. But it happened.

So hoping that someday someone will find him, he can only lean as he does. Day after day, with a heart that will either die or fly free. Legless. Hopeless. But never dreamless. Always full of dreams of what could be.

Dreams of the sky, of warm black scales, and of a smiling blonde girl, coming to take him home.

Dreams.

Day after day, he stands before barbed wire.


End file.
